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Questions about Christmas - Dec. 25, 2010
| Should Christians Be Scrooges? Questions Surrounding the celebration of Christmas on Dec. 25th |
| First, let us open this study on this Christmas day 2010 by reading the story of Jesus' birth in Luke. Click here Luke 2: 1-20 |
| From being born in a stable and lying in a manger and visited by shepherds, the birth of Jesus Christ has come to be a time of grand commerce with decorated houses and streets and the giving of gifts. What should we make of all this? |
| Today is a Holy Day, Is Christmas really a holy day? |
| Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh-day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created ad made. Genesis 2: 1-3 |
| Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Sex days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh-day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor they daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maid-servant, not thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six day the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Exodus 20: 8-11 |
| "There is no divine sanctity resting upon the twenty-fifth of December; and it is not pleasing to God that anythind that concerns the salvation of men through the infinite sacrifice made of them, should be so sadly perverted from its professed design. Christ should be the supreme object; but as Christmas has been observed, the glory is turned from Him to mortal man, whose sinful, defective character made it necessary fro Him to come to our world". Review & Herald, Dec. 9, 1884 also Adventist Home, page 477, 478 |
| Was Jesus Really Born on December 25? See separate study
The twenty-fifth of December is supposed to be the day of the birth of Jesus Christ, and its observance has become customary and popular. But yet there is no certainty that we are keeping the veritable day of our Saviour's birth. History gives us no certain assurance of this. The Bible does not give us the precise time. Had the Lord deemed this knowledge essential to our salvation, he would have spoken through his prophets and apostles, that we might know all about the matter. But the silence of the Scriptures upon this point evidences to us that it is hidden from us for the wisest purposes. In his wisdom, the Lord concealed the place where he buried Moses. God buried him, and God resurrected him, and took him to heaven. This secrecy was to prevent idolatry. He against whom they rebelled while he was in active service, whom they provoked almost beyond human endurance, was almost worshiped as God after his separation from them by death. For the very same purpose he has concealed the precise day of Christ's birth; that the day should not receive the honor that should be given to Christ as the Redeemer of the world,--one to be received, to be trusted, to be relied on as he who could save to the uttermost all who come unto him. The soul's adoration should be given to Jesus as the Son of the infinite God. {RH, December 9, 1884 par. 2}
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| What of the Christmas Tree? Are they sinful? On Christmas, so soon to come, let not the parents take the position that an evergreen placed in the church for the amusement of the Sabbath-school scholars is a sin; for it may be made a great blessing. Keep before their minds benevolent objects. In no case should mere amusement be the object of these gatherings. While there may be some who will turn these occasions into seasons of careless levity, and whose minds will not receive the divine impress, to other minds and characters these seasons will be highly beneficial. I am fully satisfied that innocent substitutes can be devised for many gatherings that demoralize. {RH, December 9, 1884 par. 8} |
| Christmas is coming. May you all have wisdom to make it a precious season. Let the older church members unite, heart and soul, with their children in this innocent amusement and recreation, in devising ways and means to show true respect to Jesus by bringing to him gifts and offerings. Let every one remember the claims of God. His cause cannot go forward without your aid. Let the gifts you have usually bestowed upon one another be placed in the Lord's treasury. I present before you, my brethren and sisters, an object, the European mission. In every church let your smaller offerings be placed upon your Christmas tree. Let the precious emblem, "ever green," suggest the holy work of God and his beneficence to us; and the loving heart-work will be to save other souls who are in darkness. Let your works be in accordance with your faith. . . RH, December 9, 1884 par. 9 |
| Every tree in Satan's garden hangs laden with the fruits of vanity, pride, self-importance, evil desire, extravagance,-- all poisoned fruit, but very gratifying to the carnal heart. Let the several churches present to God Christmas trees in every church; and then let them hang thereon the fruits of beneficence and gratitude,--offerings coming from willing hearts and hands, fruits that God will accept as an expression of our faith and our great love to him for the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ. Let the evergreen be laden with fruit, rich, and pure, and holy, acceptable to God. Shall we not have such a Christmas as Heaven can approve? RH, December 9, 1884 par. 11 |
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We are now nearing the close of another year, and shall we not make these festal days opportunities in which to bring to God our offerings? I cannot say sacrifices, for we shall only be rendering to God that which is his already, and which he has only intrusted to us till he shall call for it. God would be well pleased if on Christmas, each church would have a Christmas tree on which shall be hung offerings, great and small, for these houses of worship. Letters of inquiry have come to us asking, Shall we have a Christmas tree? will it not be like the world? We answer, You can make it like the world if you have a disposition to do so, or you can make it as unlike the world as possible. There is no particular sin in selecting a fragrant evergreen, and placing it in our churches; but the sin lies in the motive which prompts to action, and the use which is made of the gifts placed upon the tree. {RH, December 11, 1879 par. 15}
The tree may be as tall and its branches as wide as shall best suit the occasion; but let its boughs be laden with the golden and silver fruit of your beneficence, and present this to Him as your Christmas gift. Let your donations be sanctified by prayer, and let the fruit upon this consecrated tree be applied toward removing the debts from our houses of worship at Battle Creek, Mich., and Oakland, Cal. {RH, December 11, 1879 par. 16}
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Should we give gifts?
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. Matthew 10:8
I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. Acts 20: 35
Thousands of dollars (in 1884) are needlessly spent every year in gifts to each other. That is means lost to God, lost to His cause. It pleases the vanity, encourages pride, creates all kinds of dissatisfaction, murmuring, and complaints, because perhaps the gifts are not just what was desired, not of the high value wanted or expected.
Christmas is not observed as its name implies it should be. Man has forsaken God in almost everything, and has turned the attention to self. He has left the pure springs of living waters which flow from the throne of God, and hewn out to himself broken cisterns which can hold no water. God gave man a probation that he might be fitted for heaven. He was to look upward to God, who was to be the soul's adoration, but talent, skill, and inventive powers are all exercised to make self the supreme object of attention. Man has withdrawn his gaze from Deity, and fastened his eyes upon the finite, the earthly, the corruptible.
Satan is in this work to put God out of the mind and interpose the world and self that the eye shall not be single to the glory of God. Satan captivates and ensnares the mind. His infernal wisdom is continually exercised to mold and fashion the material with which he has to deal, to make God the least and the last object of devotion. Review and Herald, December 9, 1884. (Portion in The Adventist Home , pp. 477-483).
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| Comment: The foregoing comment from Ellen White should serve as instruction that we not become so focused and obsesses with the giving of gifts that the material aspects of Christmas overshadow the focus on Christ. It would do us well to remember the message to the Church of Laodicea which has prophetic implications to our church here and now. Rev. 3: 14 - 22 |
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The holiday season is fast approaching with its interchange of gifts, and old and yound are intently studying what they can bestow upon their friends as a token of affectionate remembrance. It is pleasant to recieve a gift, howeer small, from those we love. It is an assuarnace that we are not forgotten, and seems to bind us to them a little closer.
Brethren and sisters, while you are devising gifts for one another, I would remind you of our heavenly Friend, lest you should be unmindful of His claims. Will He not be pleased if we show that we have not forgotten Him? Jesus, the Prince of Life, gave all to bring salvation within our reach. ... He suffered even unto death, that He might give us eternal life. …
While urging upon all the duty of first bringing their offerings to God, I would not wholly condemn the practice of making Christmas and New Year's gifts to our friends. It is right to bestow upon one another tokens of love and remembrance if we do not in this forget God, our best friend. We should make our gifts such as will prove a real benefit to the receiver. I would recommend such books as will be an aid in understanding the Word of God, or that will increase our love for its precepts. Provide something to be read during these long winter evenings. ...
Review and Herald , December 26, 1882.
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| Comment: It should be noted that Santa Claus is derived from Saint Nikolas who had a reputation for giving gifts to children in the 4th Century. Thus, Santa Claus is symbolic of the spirit of giving at Christmas and should not be thought of as a Satanic influence. Certainly, if Santa Claus becomes more important in our celebration of Christmas than Jesus Christ, then we are missing the mark. But that goes for any aspect of Christmas that keeps us from holding the birth of the Savior in highest regard. |
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Jesus, the Majesty of heaven, the royal King of heaven, laid aside His royalty, left His throne of glory, His high command, and came into our world to bring to fallen man, weakened in moral power, and corrupted by sin, aid divine. He clothed His divinity with humanity, that He might reach to the very depths of human woe and misery, to lift up fallen man. By taking upon Himself man's nature, He raised humanity in the scale of moral value with God. Those great themes are almost too high, too deep, too infinite, for the comprehension of finite minds.
Review and Herald, December 9, 1884. (Portion in The Adventist Home , pp. 477-483).
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